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Cookbook
OverviewNew permit leadsHighest-value permitsFurnace and rewire permitsPermits near a pointMegaproject pipelineProjects near a siteZoning at an addressEverything at one addressEndpoints
GET/zoneGET/geocodeGET/reverse-geocodeGET/zoningPOST/permit/estimateGET/contractor/statsGET/contractor/coverageGET/contractorGET/propertyGET/address/normalizeGET/opening_soonGET/openingGET/businessGET/business/statsGET/business/coverageGET/contractor/{name_normalized}GET/permitGET/inspectionGET/licenceGET/development_permitGET/planning_applicationGET/assessmentGET/major_projectGET/heritage_statusGET/occupancy_permitGET/permit/statsGET/inspection/statsGET/licence/statsGET/development_permit/statsGET/planning_application/statsGET/assessment/statsGET/major_project/statsGET/heritage_status/statsGET/occupancy_permit/statsGET/permit/coverageGET/inspection/coverageGET/licence/coverageGET/development_permit/coverageGET/planning_application/coverageGET/assessment/coverageGET/major_project/coverageGET/heritage_status/coverageGET/occupancy_permit/coverageGET/permit/{record_id}/historyGET/permit/{record_id}GET/inspection/{record_id}GET/licence/{record_id}GET/development_permit/{record_id}GET/planning_application/{record_id}GET/assessment/{record_id}GET/major_project/{record_id}GET/heritage_status/{record_id}GET/occupancy_permit/{record_id}Search building permits
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
municipality | string | optional | Filter to one city by its slug, e.g. 'new_westminster', 'toronto', 'north_vancouver_city'.Exact match. The dataset's /coverage endpoint lists the valid slugs. 'city' is accepted as an alias. |
q | string | optional | Full-text search across the indexed fields of the record, e.g. q=roofing or q="Iron Hill".Matches business, contractor and project names, the address, the city and the permit or licence number, on every plan including free. It does not match a person's name: these datasets carry business records only. Space-separated words require all terms ("deck addition"). Use OR to match any term ("pool OR spa"), quotes for an exact phrase ("secondary suite"), and a leading minus to exclude ("renovation -interior"). |
permit_type | string | optional | Filter by normalized permit type (exact match): new_construction, renovation, addition, demolition, change_of_use, other.Matches the permit_type_canonical field, not the raw per-city permit_type string. |
trade | string | optional | Filter trade sub-permits by trade (exact match): electrical, plumbing, mechanical, gas, sprinkler, sign, trade_other.A trade permit is pulled for work on one system rather than the building, so this is the field for replacement-cycle work: a furnace swap is trade=mechanical, a rewire is trade=electrical. Only cities that publish trade permits separately carry it; combine with permit_type, which every permit has. |
contractor | string | optional | Filter permits by the firm that pulled them.A whole name is matched exactly against the normalized contractor name and is indexed; a fragment falls back to a substring across the contractor, company and builder fields. Cities file the same firm under several spellings, so the normalized form is the one that groups them. |
units_min | integer | optional | Permits with at least this many dwelling units.Reads whichever of units, dwelling_units, total_units or units_created the city publishes. |
floor_area_min | number | optional | Permits with at least this much floor area, in square metres.Reads floor_area or area_m2, whichever the city publishes. Cities that publish square feet are not converted and are not matched. |
storeys_min | integer | optional | Permits on a building of at least this many storeys. |
structure_type | string | optional | Filter by structure or building type as the city publishes it (exact, case-insensitive), e.g. 'Single Family Dwelling', 'Hotel'.Call /permit/stats for the values in use. |
neighbourhood | string | optional | Filter by neighbourhood (partial match).Matches whichever of neighborhood, neighbourhood or community the city publishes; Calgary calls it community. |
ward | string | optional | Filter by electoral ward as the city publishes it (exact, case-insensitive). |
zoning | string | optional | Filter by the zoning code on the record (partial match), e.g. 'R-1'.Present on permits, development permits and assessments. |
status | string | optional | Permits: the normalized status (issued, in_review, completed, expired, cancelled, unknown), same as status_canonical.Major projects: proposed, under_construction, complete, on_hold, cancelled. Business licences: the status the city publishes, e.g. APPROVED, case-insensitive. Other datasets: the status as the city publishes it. |
status_canonical | string | optional | Normalized permit status: issued, in_review, completed, expired, cancelled, unknown |
city | string | optional | Alias for municipality. |
value_min | number | optional | Minimum value: construction_value for permits, assessed_value for assessments, estimated_cost for major projects. |
value_max | number | optional | Maximum value, on the same field as value_min. |
issued_after | string | optional | Filter by date >= YYYY-MM-DD (issued_date).Aliases: date_from, date_after |
issued_before | string | optional | Filter by date <= YYYY-MM-DD.Aliases: date_to, date_before |
lat | number | optional | Latitude for proximity search.Send with lng. |
lng | number | optional | Longitude for proximity search.Send with lat. |
radius_km | number | optional | Radius in km, 0.1 to 25.Optional: lat and lng with no radius search 1 km around the point. The radius actually applied is returned as radius_km in the response, so a default is never silent. For every record at one street address rather than everything near it, use /property. |
sort_by | string | optional | Sort field: date (the record's own date, e.g. issued_date for permits) or value (the field value_min reads). |
sort_order | string | optional | Sort order: asc or desc |
limit | integer | optional | Records per page, 1 to 500.Free-tier keys are capped lower; the cap applied is the `count` in the response. |
offset | integer | optional | Records to skip. Fine for jumping to a known page;use `cursor` to walk a whole result set, because offset re-reads everything it skips and shifts when new records arrive. |
cursor | string | optional | Pagination cursor from next_cursor in a previous response.Use instead of offset for deep pagination. |
Request
curl --request GET \
--url 'https://api.builddata.ca/permit' \
--header 'X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY'import requests
url = "https://api.builddata.ca/permit"
headers = {"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}
resp = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
print(resp.json())const res = await fetch("https://api.builddata.ca/permit", {
headers: {
"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
},
});
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);<?php
$ch = curl_init("https://api.builddata.ca/permit");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
"X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY",
]);
echo curl_exec($ch);require "net/http"
require "uri"
uri = URI("https://api.builddata.ca/permit")
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
req["X-API-Key"] = "YOUR_API_KEY"
res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) { |h| h.request(req) }
puts res.bodypackage main
import (
"fmt"
"io"
"net/http"
)
func main() {
req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://api.builddata.ca/permit", nil)
req.Header.Add("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
defer res.Body.Close()
body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
fmt.Println(string(body))
}import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;
HttpRequest req = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
.uri(URI.create("https://api.builddata.ca/permit"))
.header("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
.build();
HttpResponse<String> res = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
.send(req, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
System.out.println(res.body());Example response
{
"entity_type": "permit",
"count": 1,
"offset": 0,
"results": [
{
"record_id": "24 223023 PLB:00",
"municipality": "toronto",
"lat": 43.65401,
"lng": -79.42376,
"work": "Building Permit Related(PS)",
"status": "Permit Issued",
"address": "865 COLLEGE ST",
"description": "Plumbing - INTERIOR ALTERNATION OF 3RD FLOOR SUITE",
"issued_date": "2025-01-29",
"permit_type": "Plumbing(PS)",
"application_date": "2024-10-07",
"construction_value": null
}
]
}Response fields
One permit record. Measured over 6,000 live records sampled across municipalities. Percentages say how often each field is populated: sources publish different columns, so a field missing from a given record is normal rather than an error.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
address | string | Always present. |
application_date | string | Populated in 49% of sampled records. |
area_m2 | number | Populated in 11% of sampled records. |
building_type | string | Populated in 21% of sampled records. |
company | string | Populated in 21% of sampled records. |
construction_value | number | Populated in 55% of sampled records. |
contractor | string | Populated in 15% of sampled records. |
contractor_name | string | Populated in 22% of sampled records. |
contractor_name_normalized | string | Populated in 24% of sampled records. |
current_use | string | Populated in 13% of sampled records. |
description | string | Populated in 49% of sampled records. |
dwelling_units_created | string | Populated in 14% of sampled records. |
fetched_at | string | When Nimbus last ingested this record. Bookkeeping, not source data. Always present. |
geocode_failed | boolean | Populated in 36% of sampled records. |
issued_date | string | Populated in 96% of sampled records. |
lat | string | Populated in 75% of sampled records. |
lng | string | Populated in 75% of sampled records. |
municipality | string | City slug. Call /{entity_type}/coverage for every slug in this dataset. Always present. |
neighborhood | string | Populated in 17% of sampled records. |
neighbourhood | string | Populated in 26% of sampled records. |
normalized_address | string | Address normalized for joining the same property across datasets. Always present. |
normalized_business_name | string | Business name normalized for joining the same business across datasets. Populated in 22% of sampled records. |
opening_soon | boolean | Populated in 82% of sampled records. |
permit_number | string | Populated in 97% of sampled records. |
permit_type | string | Populated in 91% of sampled records. |
permit_type_canonical | string | Permit type mapped onto a shared vocabulary. This is what the permit_type filter matches. Always present. |
postal_code | string | Populated in 27% of sampled records. |
province | string | Populated in 90% of sampled records. |
record_id | string | Stable identifier for this record. Pass it to the /{entity_type}/{record_id} endpoint. Always present. |
status | string | Populated in 90% of sampled records. |
status_canonical | string | Status mapped onto a shared vocabulary. This is what the status_canonical filter matches. Always present. |
structure_type | string | Populated in 18% of sampled records. |
trade_canonical | string | The trade a sub-permit covers (electrical, plumbing, mechanical, gas, sprinkler, sign, trade_other). This is what the trade filter matches. Only cities that publish trade permits separately carry it, so it is absent in most of the country but present on every permit from those cities. Populated in 2% of sampled records. |
ward | string | Populated in 13% of sampled records. |
work | string | Populated in 81% of sampled records. |
work_type | string | Populated in 16% of sampled records. |
69 more fields published by only one or two cities
Present on under 10% of records. Useful when you are working with a specific city, not something to rely on across the dataset.
| Field | Type | Populated |
|---|---|---|
actual_use | string | 2.6% |
address_details | string | 0.6% |
application_number | string | 3.3% |
area | integer | 0.9% |
area_ft2 | string | 0.0% |
auc_group | string | 3.2% |
bedrooms | integer | 0.0% |
builder | string | 0.0% |
builder_name | string | 4.3% |
building_category | string | 3.3% |
building_use | string | 6.7% |
category | string | 3.3% |
city | string | 6.7% |
community | string | 6.6% |
completed_date | string | 2.1% |
construction_type | string | 3.3% |
contact_role | string | 0.7% |
contractor_address | string | 1.9% |
contractor_phone | string | 0.3% |
dataset | string | 3.3% |
demolition | boolean | 3.3% |
domain | string | 3.3% |
dwelling_units | integer | 8.2% |
dwelling_units_lost | string | 2.6% |
dwellings_created | string | 1.1% |
entered_date | string | 3.3% |
est_const_cost_cents | integer | 3.3% |
existing_gfa_m2 | string | 0.0% |
expiry_date | string | 7.0% |
file_type | string | 3.3% |
floor_area | number | 2.8% |
floor_area_commercial | integer | 3.3% |
floor_area_industrial | integer | 3.3% |
floor_area_institutional | integer | 3.3% |
floor_area_residential | integer | 3.3% |
former_city | string | 3.3% |
gfa | number | 0.3% |
land_use | string | 3.1% |
land_use_district | string | 3.1% |
latitude | number | 3.3% |
legal_description | string | 3.3% |
longitude | number | 3.3% |
lots | string | 6.6% |
matricule | string | 3.0% |
new_floor_area_sqft | number | 0.8% |
parent_permit_number | string | 0.8% |
permit_cost | number | 1.5% |
permit_fee | number | 3.1% |
permit_group | string | 3.3% |
permit_type_code | string | 3.3% |
permit_type_description | string | 3.3% |
pid | string | 3.3% |
processed_date | string | 0.0% |
proposed_gfa | string | 0.0% |
proposed_use | string | 3.3% |
received_date | string | 3.3% |
revision | string | 3.3% |
second_unit | string | 0.0% |
storeys | integer | 7.0% |
structure | string | 0.4% |
subdivision | string | 3.3% |
subject | string | 0.9% |
total_units | integer | 2.2% |
units | integer | 2.2% |
units_created | integer | 6.7% |
units_lost | integer | 0.2% |
units_net_change | integer | 3.3% |
work_class | string | 3.3% |
zoning | string | 3.3% |
Errors
Every error returns {"detail": "…"}, a sentence naming what was wrong and, where there is one, the fix.
| Status | When |
|---|---|
400 | The request is understood but cannot be served as asked, e.g. offset above 9500, or cursor combined with sort_by=value. The message names the fix. |
403 | Missing or invalid API key. |
404 | No such endpoint, or no record with that id. |
422 | A parameter is invalid: an unknown city slug, an impossible date, a limit above 500, an unrecognised sort field, or a misspelled parameter name. The message names the parameter and, where there is one, the nearest valid value. |
429 | Rate limit or plan quota exceeded. |
500 | Unexpected server error. |
504 | The query took too long. Narrow it with a municipality or a date range. |
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